OHSU

Scott Prahl

scott prahl

Email: prahls@ohsu.edu
Phone: 503 216-2197
Fax: 503 216-2422
Website: http://omlc.ogi.edu/~prahl/

Current Appointments
Assistant Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering
Research Assistant Professor, Department of Dermatology
Sr. Research Scientist, Providence St. Vincent Medical Center

Office
Oregon Medical Laser Center, Providence St. Vincent Medical Center

Education
B.S. Applied Physics, Caltech, 1982
Ph.D. Biomedical Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, 1988

Research Area
Biomedical Optics

Biography
Scott Prahl received his Ph.D. doing biomedical optics in Texas in 1988. He spent a year as a post-doc at the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam measuring dynamic changes in optical properties of tissues. He then went to the Wellman Laboratories of Photomedicine at Harvard and worked extensively in dermatology -- doing projects on port wine stain treatment, photothermal radiometry, laser ablation, and psoriasis. He was recruited to join the newly formed Oregon Medical Laser Center in Portland Oregon in 1991. He insisted on a faculty appointment at the Oregon Graduate Institute so that he could train students.

Dr. Prahl won the Distinguished Teaching Award ("Teacher of the Year") during the 2000-2001 academic year. He also co-founded the OGI aikido club with Fred Phillips in 1995. Scott Prahl began training his first graduate biomedical optics students in the fall of 1991 and has successfully graduated 4 Master's students (with thesis) and 4 Ph.D. students.

Research Interests
His current research interests include: optical sensing using molecularly imprinted polymers, photopolymerization processes in photo-cured dental composites, small fiber-based instrumentation to measure optical properties, hemorrhage control of solid tissues during surgery, and the properties of chitosan bandages.

Research Project(s)
Optical Wire Lumpectomy
Propagation of partially coherent fields

Selected Publications

  • Y. Chen, J. J. Brazier, M. Yan, S. A. Prahl, "Evaluation of Molecularly Imprinted Polyurethane as an Optical Waveguide for PAH Sensing," SPIE Proceedings in Nanosensing: Materials and Devices Symposium, (2004).
  • Y. Chen, S. A. Prahl, "Quantum Yield of Conversion of the Dental Photoinitiator Camphorquinone," SPIE Saratov Fall Meeting 2004: Optical Technologies in Biophysics & Medicine VI, , (2004).
  • T. P. Moffitt, S. A. Prahl, "The Specular Reflection Problem with a Single Fiber for Emission and Collection," SPIE Saratov Fall Meeting 2002: Optical Technologies in Biophysics and Medicine IV, 5068, (2003).
  • H. Xie, R. F. Wolf, A. P. Burke, S. B. Gustafson, K. W. Gregory, S. A. Prahl, "Concentrated Albumin as a Biological Glue for Hemorrhage Control on Hepatic Resection with Argon Beam Coagulation," J Biomed Mater Res, 71B, 84-9 (2004).